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How Big Is a Hippopotamus?

A hippopotamus is about 11 ft (3.5 m) long. That is 5 ft 10 in (179 cm) more than the height of the average man (5 ft 7 in). A huge, mostly aquatic plant-eater from Africa.

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How big is a hippopotamus compared to the average man?

A hippopotamus's length is 5 ft 10 in (179 cm) more than the height of the average man (5 ft 7 in). By volume, about 24 average men would fit inside a hippopotamus.

Hippopotamus length in feet, inches, centimeters and meters

A hippopotamus measures:

Unit	Value
Feet and inches	11 ft 6 in
Inches	138 in
Centimeters	350 cm
Meters	3.5 m

Hippopotamus size facts

Hippos are about 3.3 to 3.5 meters long and weigh 1.5 tonnes or more.
They can't swim; they walk or bounce along river bottoms.

How does a hippopotamus compare to other things?

A hippopotamus next to 25 things of similar size, plus some everyday references:

Thing	Size	Compared to Hippopotamus
Sun	865,000 miles (1,393,000 km) across	398 million× bigger
Earth	7,920 miles (12,740 km) across	3.64 million× bigger
Mount Everest	5.5 miles (8.849 km)	2,530× bigger
Eiffel Tower	1,083 ft (330 m)	94.3× bigger
School bus	40 ft (12.2 m) long	3.5× bigger
Car (sedan)	16 ft (4.8 m) long	4 ft 3 in (130 cm) bigger
Great white shark	15 ft (4.6 m) long	3 ft 7 in (110 cm) bigger
Pachycephalosaurus	15 ft (4.5 m) long	3 ft 3 in (100 cm) bigger
Great hammerhead	13 ft (4 m) long	1 ft 7.5 in (50 cm) bigger
White rhinoceros	13 ft (3.9 m) long	1 ft 3.5 in (40 cm) bigger
Tiger shark	12 ft (3.7 m) long	7.9 in (20 cm) bigger
African elephant	10 ft (3.2 m)	12 in (30 cm) smaller
Woolly mammoth	10 ft (3.2 m)	12 in (30 cm) smaller
Basketball hoop	10 ft (3.05 m)	1 ft 6 in (45 cm) smaller
Tiger	9 ft 10 in (3 m) long	1 ft 7.5 in (50 cm) smaller
Bottlenose dolphin	9 ft 10 in (3 m) long	1 ft 7.5 in (50 cm) smaller
Sunflower	9 ft 10 in (3 m)	1 ft 7.5 in (50 cm) smaller
Goliath	9 ft 6 in (290 cm)	1 ft 11.5 in (60 cm) smaller
Moose	9 ft 6 in (290 cm) long	1 ft 11.5 in (60 cm) smaller
Lion	9 ft 6 in (290 cm) long	1 ft 11.5 in (60 cm) smaller
Robert Wadlow	8 ft 11 in (272 cm)	2 ft 6.5 in (78 cm) smaller
Komodo dragon	8 ft 6 in (260 cm) long	2 ft 11.5 in (90 cm) smaller
Sultan Kösen	8 ft 3 in (251 cm)	3 ft 3 in (99 cm) smaller
Average man (world)	5 ft 7 in (171 cm)	5 ft 10 in (179 cm) smaller
Average woman (world)	5 ft 3 in (159 cm)	6 ft 3 in (191 cm) smaller

Where do these numbers come from?

Sizes are typical adult or reported values, rounded for readability. Read how we measure and compare sizes.

Silhouettes from PhyloPic: Hippopotamus by Ivan Iofrida. See credits.